Yankees' pathetic day game effort vs. Red Sox falls on apathetic Brian Cashman's shoulders

The New York Yankees, with a golden four-game opportunity to reverse the past two months of trends, won a must-win Friday night affair with Cam Schlittler on the mound in completely unexpected fashion. The offense no-showed, Cody Bellinger hosed Ceddanne Rafaela, and that was somehow enough. Schlittler was somewhere between brilliant and brilliantly wild, but it was hard for Red Sox fans to talk their talk after a 1-0 shutout in the rivalry matchup, the first since 2008.

A series win would secure the Yankees the tiebreaker; they needed to win two of the remaining three games after getting away with one in the opener. Just one win would secure a split. The simplest way to do that was to win the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader against a scuffling Jake Bennett.

Doubleheaders are notoriously tough to manage, especially with a suffocated bullpen sans-Fernando Cruz. They're a showcase for the specialists, an opportunity for the final men on Brian Cashman's bench to imprint upon the rivalry and prove they belong.

Thankfully for Cashman, his Yankees were so universally pathetic on Saturday afternoon that most coverage of the feckless loss will probably overlook the disastrous contributions of his pet projects, Amed Rosario and Ali Sanchez, who somehow survived the trade deadline. One singular solo home run in the first inning by Wilyer Abreu was enough to secure the Sox a victory. The Yankees were non-participatory in a game that could've really set the tone.

But our coverage won't stop in the top of the first inning. We watched the game, and both you - and Brian Cashman - are going to have to hear about how dreadful and damaging the roster's bottom rung was in this one.

Yankees' Mitch Garver decision apparently won't impact their insane choice to roster Ali Sanchez

The Yankees' decision to fall short of adding a catcher at the deadline was bafflingly absurd for multiple reasons. Hot for a few weeks before Aug. 3, Austin Wells' full season was hardly a ringing endorsement of his abilities to carry the Yankees without a right-handed caddy. Sanchez, the Yankees' stopgap backstop, hit a heartwarming home run in Chicago, then threw the final out of an extra-inning win into left field. That should've been the end of the experiment, but it was not.

Veteran backstop Mitch Garver is now exploring other big-league options after exercising his Aug. 28 clause. In fairness to the Yankees. he has been awful with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, hitting .179 in eight games. In unfairness to the Yankees, that's why we begged them to actually go out and get someone three weeks ago instead of relying on whichever washed-up flotsam wound up on the shore. Sanchez dropped a 2-2 Carlos Rodón pitch thrown directly to his glove for the game's second run.

Rosario, the backup infielder brought in specifically to hit left-handed pitching and spell the team's regulars in tiring scenarios like a doubleheader beginning with a day game after a night game, has hit .192 against lefties this season. Standing - and we do mean standing - on second facing a 1-0 deficit in the fourth, Rosario saw Ceddanne Rafaela bungle a fly ball and attempted to score from second. Unfortunately, he didn't read the ball (or the room), and was sent home by Luis Rojas in a decision that can only be called "lunacy". He fumbled the assignment with negative awareness, and his unqualified coach doubled down.

Again, this game was over three batters in. It takes a real sicko to parse the left-behind hairballs. But when they're this egregious and this dull at the same time, we're happy to do it. One run in 18 innings to begin the most important four-game home set in years. Somehow a win was involved there. More than any other season in recent memory, this one falls on Cashman's shoulders. He saw no need to thicken out the bullpen, which is down to 3.5 men (Yerry de los Santos threw to one batter today so he could presumably pitch twice in eight hours if needed). He didn't believe a catcher was necessary. He targeted Rosario as his solution against southpaws; he's better against righties, and his errant two-out throw helped set up Sanchez's dropped seed. 2-0 became 4-0 became 6-0 and felt like 35-0, given the state of the offense. But one team has a B-team that can put pressure on major league pitching, and one team has Rosario and Sanchez.

Cashman being vindicated would feel great. It's never felt less likely.

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